The Courier
intramuralsport.37
Tuesday 6 May 2014
to make you squirm week, The Courier looks at equally embarrassing sporting defeats
Socceroos stuff American Samoa American Samoa’s national football team might have needed 17 years to claim its first ever official victory but in 2001 just 90 minutes were enough for the side to achieve something much more historical. On 11 April, the Samoans travelled to Coffs Harbour to meet Australia in a qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
keeper into the back of net. It started off well for the travelling visitors keeping a clean sheet for the first ten minutes. However, a goal from Con Boutsianis marked the beginning of the forthcoming terror. Due to some passport issues before the game, American Samoa goalkeeper Nicky Salapu was the only member of the country’s original senior line-up.
Samoa’s team, boasting an average age of just 18 years old, struggled to muster any sort of visit to Australia’s half of the pitch for the entire contest With the hosts setting a new world record for the largest win two days earlier, with a 22-0 win against Tonga, the bets were in Australia’s favour, especially with American Samoa not in the best form. Still, even the most pessimistic American Samoan spectators could have foreseen 31 goals to fly past the
The first half saw the Australians strike the ball past him sixteen times with Archie Thompson being responsible for 8 goals in the first forty-five. Meanwhile, the team with an average age of 18, and including three 15-year old players, struggled to even visit Australia’s half of the pitch.
Two minutes before full time, Archie Thompson scored his 13th and final goal to break the all-time record for a single international match. His countryman David Zdrilic ended Samoa’s travails at 31-0 to finish with a tally of eight, naturally becoming next on the list. Regarded as one of the most ridiculous sporting matches, the result paved the way for a major alteration in the Oceanian qualification zone as FIFA established a preliminary round for future campaigns. On the other hand, after topping the group with 12 points and 66-0 goal difference, the Socceroos were transferred to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006 to face a more competitive opposition. This move proved perhaps equally profitable for American Samoa. Consequently, it allowed the unfortunate team to cease a 30-loss streak and rejoice in a delightful debut win over Tonga, 2-1, in 2011. Peter Georgiev
STAYING BUSY: Nicky Salapu in action for Samoa. Image: Getty
Kiwis clobber Portugal These days, when the New Zealand national rugby side win a match, it is barely considered news anymore. However, in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks made all sorts of headlines after racking up a victory of a 108-13 against rugby amateurs Portugal.
In the 48th minute, Rui Cordeiro of Portugal, a 21 stone part time rugby professional, full time vet, touched the ball down beyond the Kiwi try line, something England couldn’t manage. After breaching the try line of the Southern Hemisphere giants, Cordeiro will be a name in the Portuguese rugby
Rui Cordeiro of Portugal, a 21 stone part-time rugby player, full-time vet, did touch the ball down beyond the Kiwi try line - something England wouldn’t manage to do later in the tournament
STAND BACK: Andrew Hore brushes off Portugal. Image: Getty
It was little more than a training session for New Zealand; they barely broke sweat, but the 40,000 something crowd got a showcase in rugby at its best, with 16 All Black tries being touched down in total. Despite the heavy defeat, the Portuguese coach, Morais, said ‘It was a great day for rugby as a whole… Everyone in our country is now talking about the game, and to promote rugby you have to allow the smaller countries to play against the bigger ones.’ Portugal also ventured into unknown territory, even to England in their 2007 World Cup campaign, at last succeeding at troubling the scorers.
wall of fame forever more. There were moments when Portugal looked much better than the score line perhaps suggests. At around the 20 minute mark, there was a sublime moment of creativity. Scrum half Luis Pissara neatly flicked the ball around his back, throwing off the New Zealand tackler, out to Goncalo Malheiro who was positioned 40 yards from the posts. Malheiro looked cool, calm and collected as he slotted the ball through the posts for a drop goal. The match was a test of character for the Portuguese they would have been foolish to think they had a chance at
winning. Their tenacity was shown however; as they only conceived four more points in the second half than they did in the first. At one point, it almost looked like a second try was coming as well. The European underdogs camped in New Zealand’s 22 for the opening five minutes of the second half, and applied the pressure on the competition favourites. However, the All Blacks were always going to be victorious, and the Portuguese had almost surely accepted this before the commencing whistle. The Portuguese took the demolition on the chin though, and afterwards seemed in good spirits as they shared a pint with the Kiwis. If it had of been football, New Zealand would surely have prevailed victors with an astounding point difference, but unfortunately it wasn’t their year as they were knocked out in the quarters to the French. Not surprisingly, Portugal never made it out of the group stages. As it stands, the unfortunately won’t be making an appearance at Twickenham for the 2015 World Cup. Despite Portuguese pride taking a knock, following the harrowing 108-13 defeat, physically Portugal didn’t suffer any injuries. Maybe the All Blacks had been going easy on them. Fran Fitzsimmons